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Inside Politics

Trump Slams Squad; Presidential Candidates Deal with Trump Feud; Protests in Puerto Rico; Corruption and Offensive Chants Rock Puerto Rico. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired July 22, 2019 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[12:00:17] JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Welcome to INSIDE POLITICS. I'm John King. Thank you for sharing your day with us.

The president launching new attacks on four Democratic congresswomen of color. He tweets they are racist, and, he adds, not very smart in his view. Remember, it was a racist Trump tweet a week ago that escalated this fight. And one member of the so-called squad today vowed she's not going anywhere, quote, until I impeach this president.

Plus, a political crisis in Puerto Rico. Protesters reject the governor's pledge to not run for re-election next year. They say he must resign now for offensive tweets and because of broader corruption problems.

And a Supreme Court farewell. The president and first lady among those paying respects to the late Justice John Paul Stevens, as is the justice who took his seat on the high court when Stevens retired a decade ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUSTICE ELENA KAGAN, SUPREME COURT: If ever there were a case where a funeral should become a celebration of a life well lived, this is that case. He lived a life of integrity and kindness and decency and service.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: We begin the hour, though, with the fight the president simply doesn't want to end. Today, the president again in a back-and-forth with the so-called squad. Quote, very racist troublemakers is how the president describes these four Democratic congresswomen of color in tweets this morning. That tweet would normally be boilerplate in the president's now weeklong fight launched with an outright racist attack on these freshmen lawmakers last Sunday. But the circumstances today make it extraordinary. The president sent that tweet 10:48 a.m. Eastern Time, after his motorcade left for the Supreme Court and a public viewing of the late Justice John Paul Stevens. It also came just minutes after one of the four members, Michigan's Rashida Tlaib, said this at an NAACP event.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RASHIDA TLAIB (D-MI): Yes, I'm not going nowhere! Not until I impeach this president.

There's all of this young women and it's beyond just the four of us. The squad is all of you. And I can tell you there's -- you are all the squad, trust me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: With me this Monday to share their reporting and their insights, CNN's Abby Phillip, Michael Bender with "The Wall Street Journal," Rachael Bade with "The Washington Post," and Amy Walter with "The Cook Political Report."

You see the new tweet from the president, again, sent in the limousine on the way to the Supreme Court. You see Congresswoman Tlaib there. We'll get to Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez over the weekend saying similar things. Is -- is it a fair statement that both sides seem to like this fight?

MICHAEL BENDER, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL": Absolutely. I mean this is a sign -- well, when we talk about both sides, let's make clear that one side of it, the radical left right now is the squad, right? I'm not sure how much Pelosi likes this fight or how much the presidential candidates like this fight.

KING: Right.

BENDER: But right now this is -- this is a back-and-forth that lets the president gets his message out and let's these four congresswomen get their message out. And that seems to be where we're at right now.

I know at least on the president's side, I mean he's capable of putting anything out on Twitter in a limousine or in the Oval or in the residence, but the next moment that I'm going to be watching for in this back-and-forth is his next rally next week in Cincinnati on August 1st. And, right, this radical left argument is going to be a continuous one for him and whether he will -- whether there will be another "send her back" chant and what he'll do to -- in response.

KING: It is trademark Trump, as he continues fights and tries to shift the terrain of the fights. He's calling them very racist. He started this with a tweet that is just undeniably racist. Go back. Go back to where you came from. The three of them -- all four American citizens, three of them born here, one a naturalized citizen. So he tries to keep stirring it up so that we sometimes forget where it began.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And this is the risk for the president and at this rally the question, as Michael said, is going to be, will his supporters buy into this new narrative that the White House and the president's aides tried to spin the president's racist tweets as, which is that this is about ideology -- the ideology of these four women, or will his supporters say, actually it's about sending her back. Will this become now a staple of the Trump campaign as other chants have in the past? And the risk for President Trump becomes, can he actually make this a

viable political strategy or is this going to just persist as a real part of his campaign where even Republicans think that this chant, what it -- the chant is, which is actually an echoing of the president's tweets, goes too far. And he might have control over the message right now or think that he does, but I think these rallies are an unpredictable environment and his supporters really tap into what they think the president is really about. And we'll find out whether or not that they're -- what they tap into is what he said originally, which is they should go back to the crime-infested places from which they came.

[12:05:14] KING: Right. And the president, on the one hand, under a lot of pressure, said he didn't like the chants and he wished they hadn't done it and he claimed, although look -- you can watch the video, whether you support the president or don't support the president, you can watch the video, it was 13 seconds, he didn't try to stop it. He did wait 13 seconds and then he started to speak.

The question is, it's an excellent point, we've -- he's since called them patriots. He's called it a record crowd. He has defended his crowd and said they were great Americans. The question is, what happens next time?

The vice president of the United States, listen here with CBS' Major Garrett, trying to say, the president understands. This won't happen again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Major, the president was very clear.

MAJOR GARRETT, CBS: Was he?

PENCE: That he wasn't happy about it and that if it happened again he -- he might -- he might -- he'll make an effort to speak out about it.

GARRETT: He will make an effort to speak out about it?

PENCE: That's what he's already said.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: So we shall see.

AMY WALTER, NATIONAL EDITOR, "THE COOK POLITICAL REPORT": He might maybe speak out against it was the response from the vice president.

Look, on -- if you saw Sunday, the pushback, not just from the White House but from other Republicans, including Republican members of Congress, including Representative Cheney from Wyoming is you all, media, et cetera, are making this racist. And this happens to Republicans all the time, that any time a Republican criticizes somebody who is not white, we get charged with being racist they say. So that is just an old tactic. We're not going to buy into that anymore. And he is actually, which I think is the reason for -- you saw this tweet going out they're racist is, this is the way we get railroaded all the time as Republicans. That's what they'll tell you is, any time we make criticism we get charged with this.

So the president is saying something that we can't defend what he's -- that part of what he's saying, but we have been in this place before.

RACHAEL BADE, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: And Republicans seem to be trying to salvage a strategy that they thought would really work, which is attacking these four women, talking about their socialistic ideologies or socialistic policies that they like.

WALTER: Right.

BADE: And Trump, obviously, upended that with his tweet last week and all throughout this week. But they're trying to sort of reset this and reclaim that but it feels like some of them are worried, you know, there is poison in the well and they won't be able to win that back, and that's why you see them blaming the media and --

WALTER: Right.

KING: Which is why words matter. Which is -- because I understand the point from Congresswoman Cheney. I would be happy to jump in front of the train if Democrats were saying, oh you just criticize the green new deal, that's not racist. You just criticized Medicare for all. You called out what Congresswoman Omar said about Israel. That's different. The president said, go back from where you came, to four American citizens, three of them were born here. That -- go back, go back is racist, which is why Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez over the weekend saying his inner voice snuck out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): Because once you start telling American citizens to, quote, go back to your own countries, this tells you that this president's policies are not about immigration, it's about ethnicity and racism.

And his biggest mistake was that he said the quiet part loud. That was his biggest mistake, because we know that he's been thinking this the entire time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: So she is more than happy to continue to engage in this. Congresswoman Tlaib, today, we were talking before the show, infamous for using the words -- expletive before I'm going to impeach this -- insert expletive -- president. Dial back the language a little bit.

The question is, do the broader Democratic Party think this is a conversation they want to continue. Yes, they like to call out the president when they think his behavior is racist or race baiting, but there is a question about, do they want to get painted as as liberal as these congresswomen. Listen to Amy Klobuchar, from the home state of Ilhan Omar now, the --

one of the members of the squad who was at this -- oh, I was going to show you the president of the United States, the prime minister of Pakistan is arriving at the White House. I think we can show you those pictures. There we go.

The prime minister of Pakistan arriving for a meeting at the White House. We don't expect the two leaders to talk here, but we'll watch as they go in. And reporters should get invited into the Oval Office. We could get that a little bit later.

Imran Khan is the prime minister of Pakistan, you see here. The administration hoping this meeting will lead to more aggressive Pakistani efforts to combat extremism, particularly the Taliban, operating within the borders of Pakistan. You see the two leaders here. You can hear the questions being shouted.

Waves and smiles. And in they go.

Back to the congresswoman, who has been most targeted by the president, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, who has said some anti-Semitic things, who has said some other controversial things, but saying go back is not the way to address those things.

Listen to Amy Klobuchar, Democratic senator, among the presidential candidates in a conversation today with Robert Costa of "The Washington Post."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you close to her politically? Are you friendly with her?

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I know her pretty well. She was a legislator in our state. We have some disagreements politically. I've made that clear. But that really isn't what the issue is right now.

[12:10:07] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you were the Democratic presidential nominee, would you invite Congresswoman Omar to speak at the Democratic National Convention?

KLOBUCHAR: I wouldn't commit to anyone speaking right now at the Democratic Convention. So -- well, except Barack Obama.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: It is a reflection there that some Democrats, the race aside, the racist tweet from the president aside, are concerned that if you paint the face of the party as -- as liberal as these four congresswomen are, the president would use the term socialist, that it could be a risk. And you know full well, when we get to next year, whoever the Democratic nominee is, there will be liberal activists in the party who say, get in the president's face by inviting the squad to the convention. The nominee's going to have to ask about -- be asked about this. PHILLIP: And there's no question that this is Trump's turf. He has moved the conversation away from the things that Democrats actually want to talk about, which actually are policies. I mean if you go out there, that's what they want to talk about, whether it's health care or college education or whatever. And now they're talking about the president's racist tweets. I mean they have to engage on this because for their party it's about the sort of values of their party. But it is a concession to the president to be talking about that and talking about, in a lot of cases, his temperament and not talking about issues. As long as that goes on, I think it's going to create uncomfortable moments for a lot of Democrats, including people like Amy Klobuchar, who are just trying to get out of the conversation. They don't even want to talk about what underlies all of this.

KING: But are we sure it's Trump's turf in the sense that it was in 2016, or at least he used it enough -- effectively enough to get -- he got beat in the popular vote, but he won the Electoral College. In 2018, this kind of behavior is what turned off the suburbs, particularly Republican, moderate women.

You wrote about this last week saying, yes, the president still has that problem. The question is, can the Democrats give a positive --

WALTER: Positive answer.

KING: Or can they -- can they step in?

WALTER: Right. So the -- I agree with Abby about the idea that it takes it on the president's terrain in that this is what he likes to talk about. He's not disciplined enough, though, to really drive a message.

KING: Right.

WALTER: But where Democrats get in trouble is they respond to his really unpopular tweets or policies with policies that happen to be either just as unpopular or also unpopular. Getting rid of ICE, making illegal border crossing not a criminal offense but a civil offense. When we get into questions about what to do about health care, that's a whole other issue. But certainly on immigration, the other health care piece is providing undocumented immigrants with access to health care.

So you can respond -- what a lot of Democrats I talked to last week for this piece would say, you know, if you look at what Democrats did in 2018, even many liberal Democrats, they ran incredibly focused campaigns on the issues that they wanted to talk about. Let the president talk about what he's going to talk about. He's going to pull folks like us into that news cycle and the Twitter world into that cycle, but voters aren't paying attention. They have sort of tuned all of this out.

BADE: And that's exactly why Speaker Nancy Pelosi, if you go back just two weeks ago before the president tweeted this racist tweet, I mean the conversation was about how Pelosi was putting these four women in a corner and she kept saying these very dismissive things about them. They don't have a lot of power in the House and I think that that's why you're seeing them especially lean into this attention right now. And this is good for their brand to fight back against the president. To say, we are -- you know, this is America now. We are the faces of America. We show the diversity of this country. And so, you know, that's -- but this is why Pelosi this whole time has been sort of putting them in a corner.

WALTER: It's also good for them politically too, especially if you look at somebody like Rashida Tlaib, who might have a serious primary challenge in her district to really cement herself there.

KING: As an enemy of Trump, if you will.

WALTER: Yes.

KING: We'll see the president again. Reporters might get into the Oval Office in a few minutes. We'll keep an eye on that.

When we come back, though, protests in the streets today in Puerto Rico. The activists say the governor must go. So far, he says no.

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[12:18:40] KING: In Puerto Rico today, calls for the governor to resign are reaching a feverish point. Demonstrators, you see them there, reaching a major highway in San Juan, shutting it down. That in the midst of the rush hour. Protesters say they want Governor Ricardo Rossello gone, but the governor is resolute, announcing last night he will resign his position as head of his party and he will not seek re- election next year, but he says he will not step down now as governor.

Mass protests began a week and a half ago. Nearly 900 pages of offensive, private text messages were made public between the governor and members of his inner circle. Those officials, in those messages, openly bashing fellow politicians, the media and celebrities. The group attacked journalists, trying to discredit their stories. They threatened to turn opponents over to the police. Derogatory, sexist remarks about women and homophobic opinions about the singer Ricky Martin. One of the officials targeted in the group messages is Melissa Mark-Viverito, she's the former speaker of the New York City council and the interim president of the Latino Victory Project. She says even though she was attacked personally, this fight is not about her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELISSA MARK-VIVERITO, INTERIM PRESIDENT, LATINO VICTORY PROJECT: This is not about me. Obviously this is an attack on all women and this is an attack and basically an attack on the people of Puerto Rico in general.

I think what the chats revealed, it was basically the breaking point. One, it was about the sexism, misogyny, homophobia. Two, it was about the use of government money and resources enrich your friends. Use of power of the government to go against your opponents. This is really -- everything was exposed in that chat and I think people have just had enough. (END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:20:12] KING: CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is on the ground live in San Juan.

Nick, tell us what you're seeing and hearing from these protesters today.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, the governor you're mentioning is most likely in that building behind me. You probably don't recognize this spot because it's normally heaving with protesters when we're here. But there, as you see, all out on the main expressway into San Juan coming here we are hearing from some protest organizers.

Now, it's one hell of a long walk for them. It may take them a number of hours to get here. But, my God, the fury will be quite substantial when they finally arrive. Governor Rossello making absolutely clear yesterday he's not resigning as they seek immediately and that has put more people out on the streets, frankly, hoping that the sheer numbers, and the numbers were startling, will, in fact, change his mind.

But we spoke to the mayor of San Juan earlier about what really comes next. It's a democracy. There should be a vote. But they want him to leave immediately. Here's what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR CARMEN YULIN CRUZ, SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO: The crimes committed by the governor are so horrendous that it cannot wait. It cannot wait.

WALSH: So it's impeachment or it's just --

CRUZ: It is impeachment. It is impeachment time. He's obstinate. His mental health isn't there. He doesn't want to resign. It's impeachment time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALSH: So, will that happen? Well, there are three legal experts looking to see if the chat group was enough to launch impeachment. Then it will go to congress. That will take weeks. That's not enough for the crowds on the way here now who want him gone now.

But I have to say, they're still talking about more protests perhaps later in the week, so maybe even they don't think he's going tonight. He's made it clear he won't stand in the next election. But looking at the numbers of people in the streets, he's very likely to lose that hands down. So really is today's scene going to be enough for him to start rethinking his position?

John.

KING: Whatever your position, that is a remarkable display of Democratic activism. \ Nick Paton Walsh on the ground. Appreciate the reporting. Keep us posted.

Let's -- this has become an issue in the presidential campaign as well. Let's get to that in a moment.

Just when you look at these pictures, and if you go back through the timeline, the last couple of years have been very tough for the people of Puerto Rico. September 2017 obviously Hurricane Maria. You had the governor and you just saw the mayor of San Juan, who just called for his impeachment. A little sparring with the Trump White House during some of that.

The FBI arrest Puerto Rican officials for corruption. The leaks of these horrendous -- I don't know how to describe them -- text messages with sexist, misogynist, homophobic, plus open talk of discuss -- of corruption and criticizing your political opponents.

You're the governor. You've now said, I won't run for re-election, I'll step down as head of the party. Are you going to try to govern in a bunker?

WALTER: Right. I mean --

KING: It's --

WALTER: This is going to be very difficult, especially if this continues at this rate. At some point there's the breaking point, as we've seen. But from the reporting down there, the idea that an impeachment process, even if it started, that might be enough to maybe tamp down some of the protests, at least the processes going forward. But this does not seem like somebody who's interested, though, the governor, in saying, you're right, here I go.

KING: Certainly not at the moment does not seem that way. The question is, can the pressure mount. And so let me ask the question, does pressure from presidential candidates here in the United States, is that something Governor Rossello is going to listen to in the sense you had Tulsi Gabbard, actually went down there and senator -- well, let's listen, actually. Tulsi Gabbard and Julian Castro among the Democratic presidential candidates saying, governor, you've got to go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TULSI GABBARD (D-HI), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm doing what I can to lift this up to the national conversation and calling on leaders in the United States of America to stand with the people of Puerto Rico against corruption and for the people. You're right, this is not about partisan politics.

JULIAN CASTRO (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He can't possibly be effective anymore. There comes a time when you're in power when you need to acknowledge that for the benefit of the people that you represent, you need to step aside.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KING: Several other Democratic candidates as well saying the same thing.

There's the obvious issue right before you. Again, go through some of these text messages in this chat group and it is reprehensible for anybody, let alone a governor. So there's the issue before you saying you've got to go. And let's be honest about it also, there's also a pretty fierce competition among these Democratic candidates for president to try to court Latino voters.

PHILLIP: And also to show that they're not just standing idly by while this kind of behavior and the messages and also the corruption, which is a real issue, goes on. I mean they're -- this is as much of a defensive posture from some of these Democrats as it is an effort to actually push him out. They have to distance themselves from this.

And I do think the pressure will matter. It's not clear how long it will take, because I think we've entered this political world in which people think they can just survive indefinitely, and in some cases they actually can in the face of controversy. But those kind of demonstrations, you don't see that every day. And that's a clear sign that the people of Puerto Rico are willing to basically shut it all down to get him to leave office.

BENDER: I think that's right. I mean the governor here is signaling some retreat, right, but without showing a path forward for himself. And whether or not Tulsi Gabbard is going to be sort of the convincing voice for him to step down, she and others are -- that is going to be encouragement for the protests to continue, and -- which is where the pressure will rest.

[12:25:17] KING: And these pictures -- the pictures of the every day men and women in the streets are the most powerful of all. And they've been at it for 12 days now I think. And so the question is, to your point, can they sustain it? Does the governor decide he can govern in such a situation? We'll keep on top of it here.

Up next for us though, the economy in the news today. Senator Elizabeth Warren says we're on the brink of another financial crash, comparing presenting day to the lead-up to the 2008 crisis. Why some on Wall Street are saying she's not so right.

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